


XANDER vs. the Calling

by DrakePendragon



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Chuck (TV)
Genre: Multi, RIP Buffy, Season 6 Divergent, Stanford!Xander, tech genius!Xander
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-02-13
Packaged: 2019-03-17 14:20:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13660776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrakePendragon/pseuds/DrakePendragon
Summary: Betrayed by one best friend, out living another, Xander has very little going for him these days. Or so he thinks. An email from his traitorous college best friend shakes everything up.





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer. I don't own Buffy or Chuck.

A party was well underway in a small townhouse complex in Echo Park, Los Angeles. The courtyard was full of people both residents and guests. In this complex, the tenants were like their own little community with an emphasis on little. When it was one person’s birthday, everyone celebrated. Out of the five townhouses surrounding the courtyard, only three were filled. They were a close-knit bunch. Cordelia could see that just from watching Willow chat animatedly with her neighbor, Ellie. It was good to see her smile like that. It had been a very hard decade for her old Sunnydale friends. Actually, she never really considered them Sunnydale friends anymore since they had been living here in Burbank for the past six years.

Cordelia longed to say she was shocked when she heard that Buffy had died saving the world, but she wasn’t. It was a simple fact that all of them knew deep down would happen. But with Mrs. Summers dying earlier that year on top of it, she couldn’t blame Willow, her girlfriend Tara, and the late Vampire Slayer’s little sister Dawn for leaving Sunnydale behind. There were rumors in the mystical communities that Willow had tried to resurrect Buffy and failed, leading to her and Tara, two extraordinarily powerful witches, to actually permanently close the Hellmouth in the Slayer’s honor.

The hardest thing to grasp was that was six long years ago. Actually, the hardest thing to grasp was that her ex-boyfriend actually went to Stanford, joined a fraternity, and then got expelled for selling test keys. Not that he actually did the latter of course. Cordelia knew a lot in life and one of those was Alexander Harris. He wasn’t the type to do that. As she thought of him, her eyes skimmed the party for that messy mop of black hair. She saw Angel and Wesley talking with Ellie’s super boyfriend Devon. That drew a smirk to her face. Captain Forehead was talking to Captain Awesome. Tara and Fred were conversing quietly by the fountain. Gunn was entertaining Dawn with some knife tricks over by the cake. That girl was knee deep in one wicked rebellious streak. She had a Bachelor’s degree in Archeology and Evolutionary Linguistics from UC Berkley and yet she insisted on working at a local electronics store with Xander and had a literal green streak running through her hair.

She couldn’t find him throughout the small crowd which could only mean he was brooding in his room again. Annoyed at this revelation, she dismissed herself from the party and entered Xander’s townhouse. All the lights were off except for the front room. Each step made her more and more frustrated at him. He tended to put on a happy face for the world and make the prerequisite jokes to keep people happy but she knew he made the tail spin into depression years ago. Yeah, she got that his best friend from college betrayed him and all, but that couldn’t be worse than having to stake his previous best friend when he became a vampire, could it? It’s not like Bryce Larkin went on to be someone after the betrayal. He was an accountant, a pencil pusher with a calculator. For nearly five years she watched this and it broke her heart. She still cursed him for cheating on her with the same Willow that was in the courtyard and breaking her fragile teenage heart, but he was better than this and she was going to remind him. She hadn’t gotten dressed up all pretty on a Monday for nothing.

 

_*_

 

In a CIA/NSA secure facility, there was no such thing as an end to a work day. Everything kept moving, day and night. Even for those breaking in. CIA Agent Bryce Larkin slipped on his own blood coming out of the ventilation shaft and crashed to the ground. He gasped in pain and rolled onto his back. The entire room was covered in white screens turning it painfully bright. He slowly pushed himself to his feet and jogged to the center of the room where an old IBM computer sat. He slid into place in front of it and started typing rapidly, imputing all of his intel to crack the firewall so his palm sized computer could interface with it.

“It’s hard to say goodbye,” he quipped. He put a pair of stylish sunglasses on and hit enter. All the screens went black for just a moment before lighting up with thousands of odd and seemingly random images. Images he couldn’t see through the pitch-black lenses.

“<Security Breach: Data Vault>”

As soon as the file transfer was complete, the whole room went dark. Bryce immediately stashed the pocket computer in his dress slacks and pulled out a circular disk. His lips turned up in an old mischievous smile.

“Happy Birthday, Xan. Wish you could see the fireworks,” Bryce said to himself.

 

_*_

 

Cordelia reached his bedroom door at the end of the hall and banged loudly on the wooden surface. “Harris! Get your stupid ass out here for your birthday party!” she demanded. He didn’t respond so she pushed the door open. A foam dart struck the door frame right beside her head. “Did you seriously just shoot a Nerf dart at me?”

“Nope. Shot it at my door frame. Just happened to be next to your head,” Xander replied from his computer chair in his dark room. Cordelia hit the light switch causing him to wince in pain.

“Your birthday party! The wonderful party your cousin Eleanor and that dreamy doctor boyfriend of hers threw for you. We’re all here for you. You need to be here, too,” she insisted.

“Am here. Right here,” he replied in a bored tone.

“What is your dysfunction this time? Angel is worried about you for crying out loud. Angel. Talk, dark, brooding vampire of the night? He said that the last time you two saw each other, you couldn’t even trade barbed remarks,” she pointed out.

“I hate my birthday. I hate birthday parties. If I was the drinking type, I toast my traitorous best friend, the ever so charming Bryce Larkin, and the backstabbing girlfriend he took from me. I deeply, from the bottom of my blackened heart, apologize for doing that to you in High School. Karma really sucks,” he said bitterly.

“Look, it’s not like demons are going to attack us like Buffy’s birthday parties. Even in they did, we so got it covered between you, me, Angel, Gunn, Wes, two witches, and Joan Jett out there,” she argued.

Xander glared at her balefully. “You better not have jinxed that. Ellie and Devon have no clue about that world. You know that. They still think that Will and Tare are those earth-hippy types, not the I-can-explode-your-brain-with-my-mind types,” he said.

“They do dress the part. Goes with their bookstore I guess. God, what is it with you and Willow? She gets her numerous degrees in computers, cryptography, and psychology and decides to co-own a book store. Was there even a point to you two going to major colleges?” Cordelia snarked.

“Oh, like your degree in bitchiness from Sunnydale High?” Xander retorted. Cordelia grinned.

“I knew I could get a rise out of you. Good thing it was just with that, ‘cause I was prepared to round home base if it meant snapping you out of this funk,” she commented airily. Xander snorted a laugh.

“Yeah, I’m sure you would have. I bet you’d rather get impaled on rebar again than stoop to that level again,” he replied darkly.

Cordelia turned to leave but paused in his doorway, trying to not show him that his words stung her more than she’d like to admit. “When are you going to get it, dumbass? You’d be a great catch if you’d just realize it. We’re not kids anymore. Open your eyes,” she said.

“A vision tell you that?” he replied.

“Cute. Aw, shit… thanks dork face,” Cordelia griped. Her hand shot out and grabbed the molding on the door frame to catch herself from falling. Her nails dug into the wood, tearing gashes into the surface. The vision that just hit her ripped through her brain like a wildfire. Xander was out of his chair in an instant and caught her, easing her to his bed. She laid there with her eyes open and vacant. He’d seen this before. Officially, she was diagnosed with a seizure disorder to cover it up but it was really it was the visions the Higher Powers sent her. As she would tell anyone, being a Seer sucked. She saw dozens of little bursts like a television cycling through channels until it stopped on one last image: Bryce Larkin, the traitorous old best friend, lying dead on the ground with a bullet wound in his chest. In his hand was a PDA with Xander’s name on it before it shorted out.

Cordelia sucked in a ragged breath and sat up straight, nearly colliding with Xander. She glanced around and saw she was lying on his bed. He must have caught her. That brought up emotions that she didn’t want to explore. She snapped up her frosty exterior again and got to her feet. “Right, listen up, hero. Tonight, your old pal Bryce is gonna contact you. What you do from there is up to you. Just remember, things like this: they only come once in a generation,” Cordelia said cryptically, hoping that the Slayer reference would pierce that thick skull of his. She exited his room quickly to return to the party.

 

_*_

 

“Larkin’s in the Vault!”

“Larkin! Open this door!”

“You have three seconds. We can compromise.”

Bryce snorted a laugh and affixed the metal disk to the computer tower. He twisted it and a red numeral nine appeared.

“Blow the door! Okay, let’s go!”

Bryce causally stood up and shucked off his jacket. The timer was quickly counting down. He cracked his neck once and sprinted at the door. The computer exploded in a large fireball and lifted him up, cradling him in the flames instead of burning him. He crashed through the door, knocking the heavily armored NSA operatives to the ground.

He staggered to his feet and took off down the corridor. Another agent stepped in front of him and he vaulted up the wall to kick him in the face. The next went down with a strike to his heart, as if Bryce was holding a weapon to stab him with. His face bulged in shock as he collapsed. Years of parkour and free running with his best friend prepared him for the series of wall scrambles and vaults that propelled him out of the glass window over the exit door.

He took the stairs three at a time, only to stop at a landing and pull out the computer again. He quickly thumbed through all of his contacts until he reached the bottom and the letter X. The agents busted down the stairwell door and opened fire, forcing him to flee further up the building. One agent managed to catch up but he was taken out by a spinning kick to the chest, sending him down the center of the stairwell. He broke out onto the roof and took off with many agents behind him.

“Larkin is on the roof. All units converge. I repeat: Larkin is on the roof. All units converge.”

Bryce jumped across a gap onto the next building, sparing the helicopter a single glance. He jumped down multiple levels to the parking lot, seeing himself in the clear. He pulled out the computer again and found his best friend’s name. That’s when the high caliber round ripped through his chest. He flailed back and crashed onto the ground.

John Casey stalked towards him with his pistol still out and smoking. “Don’t move,” he said emotionlessly.

“Too late, Casey,” Bryce said with a pained smirk. He pressed send and the file went off just as he stopped breathing. The screen read ‘Xander’ for a moment before smoking and turning off. Casey grunted.

 

_*_

 

Xander finally left his room if only long enough to make the rounds greeting all his friends at the party. The music was lively, the people friendly, the beer alcoholic and once again Ellie’s seven-layer dip tasted like eight. For Cordy’s sake he pretended to have a good time but he was sure everyone could see that it was forced. Still, he laughed and made jokes like he always would. Finally, at the end of the night and everyone had left, he retreated back to his house with Dawn in tow. They had some serious video gaming to do to unwind after that party. She had become his best friend since Willow had become his protective big sister after the Stanford thing. Xander paused in his own doorway, remembering what Cordy said to him and the very pointed look she gave him as she was leaving. She had called him hero one last time when she kissed him goodnight.

Dawn took that opportunity to snake by him and flop down onto his bed, controller already in hand. “Halo!” she sing-songed. It was definitely not strange to him that he frequently had a hot twenty-one-year-old girl in his bed in various states of undress and have it be completely platonic. No, not strange at all. Xander dropped into his computer chair and waved his hand dismissively. She beat him to the controller, she chooses the game. He took some enjoyment out of watching the grunts run away screaming from Mistress Dawn (her name for herself when Master Chief), though, not nearly as much as she did. It brought a smile to his face.

Xander could lie to himself and say that he hadn’t thought about Bryce Larkin since he got kicked out of Stanford but Willow had long educated him about the dangers of lying to himself. Sometimes he really would prefer her not studying psychology. Bryce and he had something special or so he thought. They weren’t thrown together because of a demon or magic or an apocalypse or whatever, but because they were both geeks starting out at Stanford together and loved a text-based videogame. Bryce had been there with him when Tara’s piece of shit family came to Sunnydale to take her back and he had stood up for her like a roguish hero in a high collared jacket just because it was the right thing to do. He rushed back with him when Joyce Summers’ died and attended Buffy’s funeral with him. So why the hell would Bryce frame him and steal his girlfriend the way he did?

“Xan, what time is it?” Dawn asked, snapping him out of his reverie. She was at least three full levels past where she was the last time he looked at the screen. He glanced over at his computer to check.

“1:50 AM,” he replied.

“Damn, we got work tomorrow,” she griped.

“The woes of the working class,” Xander said sagely.

“If Harry says ‘Tang in your face’ to me one more time I’m going to hurt him,” Dawn said dangerously.

“File a complaint with HR or, I dunno, tell Dead Boy and have him rustle up the vampire special,” he suggested.

“First one isn’t fun. Second one isn’t satisfying enough despite Spike’s added efforts. I really want to just break his spirit,” she replied.

“Should we be worried here?” he drawled. His computer dinged, drawing Dawn’s eyes to the screen.

“Oh, look who decided to remember your birthday! It’s the guy I’m going to kick in the nuts if I ever see him again,” she said sweetly. Xander glanced back and saw it was an email from Bryce.

“And that is my quota on you for tonight,” Xander said tiredly, gesturing to his door. Dawn pouted at him. “Nuh-uh. That does not work on me anymore. I am a bitter, wizened man of the world now. Beautiful women with jutted out lips don’t sway me anymore,” he said.

Dawn’s face lit up at his compliment. “You really think I’m beautiful?” she asked with a dazzling smile.

“Yes, and pouty and manipulative and I know what you’re doing. Return to the townhouse from whence you came for I shall see you bright and early enough,” he replied. Dawn huffed but the smile and glow in her cheeks was still there. She gave him his birthday hug and kiss, though closer to the lips than his cheek and left for the night.

Xander sighed and rotated in his chair a few times, staring at the unopened email from Bryce. It was from his old Stanford email account. Which was weird on its own since he graduated with honors a few months after ruining Xander’s life. What was weirder was that Xander blocked that specific account with at least ten hours’ worth of coding. Bryce was good with computers, if Xander wanted to put it lightly, but he was never this good.

Against his better judgment, Xander opened the email. Inside was a file with a .zrk extension. That was their old text-based video game that they had made on a three-year whim. He double clicked it and the game started up. Not at the title screen that they argued over for half the production but with a battle. “The terrible troll raises his sword…” Xander read in amusement. His eyes closed to help him concentrate on what was in his hero’s satchel back then. The word hero was like a nasty speed bump to him, reminding him of what Cordy said. She had called him hero and coincidences didn’t happen around her.

“Attack troll with nasty knife,” Xander said as he typed it in. They had argued over the wording for days. Yes, it had to be a nasty knife. No, it couldn't just be a knife. Who attacked a troll with a knife? No one, but a nasty knife, that's how you do it. He hit enter and thousands upon thousands of images filled his screen. He took a step back and just stared at them all without blinking. He stood there for the next six hours until screen went black and his hard drive started smoking. Xander simply fell backwards and crashed onto the floor.

 

_*_

 

The next thing Xander saw through unfocused eyes was Dawn straddling him, frantically shaking him to wake him up. The images kept flashing before him making him nauseous. “Wake up! Xander! You have to wake up!” she said desperately.

Xander groaned and rubbed his head to chase away the migraine. “Did you spike the punch last night?” he asked groggily.

Dawn slapped him hard across the face. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again, okay? You’re not allowed to die,” she said angrily. Xander groaned in pain and felt the full burn of the fresh handprint. He decided that hugging her might prevent another slap and wrapped his arms around her, pulling against him. She finally relaxed in his arms.

“Not dead, just weirdly unconscious,” he replied. Dawn didn’t move even when he let his arms fell limp to his sides. “Breathing becoming an issue and trying very hard to not see you as the woman you are and more of the little sister I think of you as,” Xander rambled off hoarsely.

“Huh?” she asked, looking up at him funny.

“Your ample bosom is collapsing my diaphragm,” he replied.

Dawn smacked him in the shoulder as she got back up. “Perv,” she replied. Upon hearing his indignant gasp she gave him a not too innocent smirk. “And good morning to you, too,” she said before heading for his kitchen and the caffeine he always had in stock.

Xander looked down and groaned at his body’s inability to behave appropriately around the fairer sex. A shower was definitely needed, preferably cold. If the Powers That Be granted him any luck at all Dawn wouldn’t say a word to the rest of the Nerd Herd or worse the Green Shirts like herself.

He managed to make his way to his bathroom, ignoring the smells of waffles and coffee coming from his kitchen. Mostly ignoring anyway. Dawn always ate breakfast twice for some reason. She said it was because she had two houses: his and Willow’s but that just sounded crazy to him. She had done weirder though. Xander stumbled into the shower and hit the radio.

Halfway through his morning routine he realized that he really needed to get out of the funk he was in. Sure, everyone had been telling him that for years but the email from his traitorous best friend last night really just dug it in. He was going to be the Tony Stark of the real world with Bryce at his side. The two of them were going to be somebody. On top of that he’s one of the few people in the world that actually fought the things that go bump in the night. When was the last time he went on a patrol with Angel and his crew? Three years ago. He needed some kind of excitement in his life again. Something needed to happen.

“The 101 is clear at Universal City. Watch for delays at Burbank Airport. Security is checking all vehicles,” the voice on the radio said. Xander couldn’t explain it properly but it felt like when he would stretch his neck too far to the side and all the blood would rush through his head, making his vision funny. Then it hurt. Images ripped through his mind at a thousand miles an hour. He couldn’t make out what they were exactly but he knew there was something in his brain that wasn’t there before. His head crashed into the marble wall of the shower and he yelped in further pain.

“Xander, you okay in there?” Dawn called out.

“Yeah, no… yeah! I’m fine!” Xander yelled back.

“You want me to come in there and check?” she asked.

“Ha! That come-on was even worse than your last one!” he replied.

“Can’t blame a girl for trying!”

Xander shook his head and finished up in the shower. He needed to stop thinking about his future female prospects for once. Even though Dawn was coming on to him like a freight train and Cordy was showing way too much interest in him last night, he couldn’t and wouldn’t go down either of those roads. He faced facts years ago; Cordy deserved who he would have been if he graduated Stanford and Dawn deserved someone who didn’t fix computers at a local electronics store. She should be out with some Indiana Jones type to match her Lara Croft-iness.  And Cordy… Cordy should be someone that hadn’t hurt her as bad as he did.

He fixed up his grey tie and clipped his Buy More name tag to his pocket protector. Come all, feast ye eyes on world savior, Xander Harris, savior of your household technological needs. Fear him, forces of technological evil and weep before his might. Xander gave a self-depreciating snort and laugh and headed out of his room to the front door where Dawn was standing with his car keys in hand. She tossed them to him but he tossed them back.

“You drive,” he said.

“What? Drive a Herder? Am I worthy of this honor?” she asked mockingly. Xander glared and pushed past her out his front door.

“Yes, just don’t get us killed and I’ll give you a gold star for the day, too,” he replied cheekily.

“But it’s a Nerd Herder, Xan,” she said in false reverence.

“Dawn… not now, I feel like a college frat party has taken up residence inside my skull,” he said weakly.

“That’s how Cordelia described her visions,” she pointed out.

“Really? I have even more sympathy for her,” he replied.

They entered the red and white painted Toyota and started off down the road. Xander leaned his head back against the head rest and probed at his temples to chase away the headache.

“You sure you’re okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, just stay off the five, the cops are in a phased…. deployment,” he said with a startled and confused expression on his face.

“O…kay? Staying off the five,” she replied.

Dawn managed to get to work with only two episodes of road rage and three near accidents. All in all, Xander counted it as a win. They were alive after all. The dynamic duo parted ways inside the store to go about their various jobs. Xander made his way to the Nerd Herd kiosk and checked out the prospects for the day. A porno-virus. Oh, this was going to be fun.

Xander whistled sharply and his subordinates, his loyal proletariat, gathered around him. Taking the moment to make eye contact with his faithful soldiers, he let them know that each and every one of them was needed. The skanky school girl Anna, the ass-kissing spineless dweeb Lester, and the partially brain-dead burnout Jeff. His people.

“Fellow Nerds, I am loathe to inform you that today shall be a most ill-fated day. There is a new computer virus on our horizons and they call it the Irena Demova virus,” Xander said. Lester cracked up and gave a grin that made Xander shudder deep in his soul. “Good call, my loyal pervert. It is named after the Serbian porn star. Lester-like call volume will be high. This is a nasty one, soldiers. It’s a computer-killer. Now you know and knowing is half the battle, the rest is up to us. Off to it, my flying monkeys,” he said, waving them away. Xander let his head drop into his hands for a brief respite.

“The former commander of NATO is set to arrive in Los Angeles later today to deliver a speech before the security league,” the newscaster on all the televisions said. Xander looked up through his messy bangs at the television screen and saw the commander in question. That same blood rush shot through his head and his eyes fluttered shut. Images blasted their way through his vision. This time flight records and travel documents stuck in his brain. “The general has drawn fire for his criticism of peace keeping operations in the Baltic States. General Stanfield, the former commander of NATO, insists that his visit is not here with a political agenda.”

“He’s already here, he landed last night,” Xander said to himself.

“Anonymous sources inside the CIA have reported that rogue factions from Eastern European intelligence agencies are trying to stop tomorrow night’s speech from happening. Of course, we’ll have updates for you as events unfold,” the newscaster said.

Xander leaned back against the desk in confusion. “Huh,” he grunted.

 “What’s ‘huh’?” Dawn asked from behind him, making him jump.

“Nothing, just the news,” he hastily replied.

“Yeah, like you pay attention to the news,” she replied with a snort.

“I’ll have you know that I am so worldly, educated, and wise because of the award-winning journalist talents at KCAL9 news,” he argued.

“Xander? Why is there an eleven looking at you like a piece of meat?” she asked innocently, causing him to whirl around at the desk and look for her. Sure enough, a blonde woman around his age and very clearly breaking the hotness scale was approaching him with a way too friendly smile.

“I don’t know, Dawnie, but I intend to find out,” he replied. Dawn scoffed in response.

“She’s probably a demon,” she remarked.

“Shoo, you’re messing up my mojo,” he replied.

“No, I work here, too,” she argued.

“Yeah, over there, selling electronics to helpless bystanders,” he hissed out.

The woman reached the kiosk, clearly amused by their exchange. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” she said with a hint of an Australian accent.

 Xander forced a smile and tried to shoo Dawn away again. “No, not at all. Don’t mind my sister, she’s a twerp,” he said.

“Sister?! I am not your sister. I thought we had something special, Xander,” she said with a pout, drawing a lovely laugh out of the blonde woman.

“It’s very special and it’s also elsewhere. I have to work, Dawnie,” he said with a mild glare. She sighed dramatically and walked off to help another customer.

“Quite the family dynamic you have,” she said dryly.

“Indeed. They were the worst of times, they were the best of times…” he said with a sigh.

“I didn’t think people named their kids Xander, well, ever,” she said.

“My parents were sadists and inebriated, so I thought the sober and rational thing to do was to take the very foreign name Alexander and narrow it down to its most important part,” he said.

“Alex?” she offered. Xander gave a small laugh.

“No, close though. What can I do for you….?” He asked in a fishing expedition for the name of the beautiful woman with the great smile and laugh.

“Sarah. I’m here about this,” she said, putting the parts of a cell phone on the counter in front of him.

“Ooh. The IntelliCell. I call it the smart person’s bane and clearly why you brought it in, you wanna know why?” he asked.

“Why?” she replied, her turning slightly pink at the smoothly delivered compliment.

“Because a smart person will have thought of ten thousand different reasons why this phone failed. Now, I’ll admit that the number of reasons each person thinks of its dependent on the person, of course, but the one reason they never think of is this,” he said, flipping the phone over and screwing in the tiny screw at the base of the battery carriage. “One tiny screw holds down the entire battery. It gets separated and the phone doesn’t receive a charge. So simple and yet so devastating,” Xander explained, putting the phone back together and handing it to Sarah.

“Wow, you geeks are good,” she said with a smile. Xander cleared his throat and politely pointed to the giant sign above them.

“Nerds. Our esteemed company is tied up in nomenclature litigation with a shall-never-be-mentioned rival over the term so we are Nerds and Nerds only,” Xander explained with an apologetic smile.

Sarah opened her mouth to respond but a teenage girl, no older than fifteen with awkwardly long limbs, long frizzy brown hair, coke bottle glasses, and braces put her laptop on the counter. She looked frantic and couldn’t stop bouncing. She actually reminded Sarah of herself when she was that age.

“Please! You have to help me! It’s my Dad’s laptop and I broke it! He’ll kill me!” she exclaimed.

Xander spared another apologetic glance at Sarah before taking the laptop. “No problem, miss…?” he asked as he opened the lid of the Prism Express. The screen was a mess. In fact, it looked like it was hit by the old Harris special from when he was at Stanford.

“Claire. My name’s Claire,” she said quickly.

“Alright, Claire, don’t you worry. This kind of laptop has a special mode built in for basic technicians to do a couple of things. Lucky for you, I’m not a basic technician,” he said. He shot a grin at Claire and Sarah. His fingers danced over the keyboard, forcing the computer to revert into line code and then he got to work. The virus was sneaky and subversive and he recognized it from when he was her age and Willow tried hacking into the Department of Justice for the first time. He didn’t point that out of course as he got to work cleaning it up.

Claire watched him anxiously the entire time but Xander kept putting her at ease with dry humor and wry grins. Sarah seemed genuinely touched on how he dealt with the problem. He was so caught up however that he didn’t notice her leaving her number on his business card and slipping out.

“And…! Done, computer good and fixed. Next time, Claire? Be a little more careful when you’re…adventuring online,” he whispered. She turned scarlet and nodded quickly, taking the laptop from him and hurrying out.

Xander looked around for Sarah inside found the bald angry face of Harry Tang. “Xander!” he said sharply.

“Hi, Harry. Whatever can I do for you? More turtle wax?” Xander offered.

“Your Secret Santa gift was not as amusing as you think, Harris,” he retorted.

“Odd, I thought it was quite amusing, Harry,” Xander said.

“You didn’t charge that girl a dime, Harris. This is not a charity,” he said angrily.

“It only took ten minutes,” Xander retorted dryly.

“Do you know what ten minutes in Buy More dollars is?” he asked.

“We have our own currency?” Xander asked.

“We are not stock boys anymore, Xander! We are leaders! Buy More leaders! And you wonder why Big Mike wants me for assistant manager,” he taunted.

“Oh, yippee. Your wildest dreams are coming true, Harry. After becoming assistant manager maybe you’ll be a real boy,” Xander said scathingly. Harry stalked off, presumably to sexually harass Dawn again. Xander glanced around his kingdom, his domain, his kiosk, and found one of his business cards out of place. On it was Sarah’s name and phone number. He laughed deprecatingly to himself. Too good to be true.

 

_*_

 

Three people stood in the ruins of the room that Bryce had bombed the previous night. No piece of technology was left intact, just charred and smoldering wreckage.

“Bryce Larkin was CIA, Graham. One of your agents,” Brigadier General Diane Beckman pointed out as they reviewed security photos of Bryce’s infiltration.

“Yes, and it was the NSA’s job to find him, to question him. Not put a bullet in him,” CIA Director Langston Graham said angrily. “Thanks to Rambo here, we got nothing!” he said, gesturing to Casey.

“No, you got a dead CIA agent. That’s a gold star in my book,” Casey said with a smirk.

“If this gets out…” Beckman said lowly.

“It won’t,” Casey replied immediately.

“Nobody asked you,” Graham growled.

“Actually, they did. Major Casey is heading up this investigation,” Beckman said. Casey just grinned at Graham.

“So, what was Bryce after? What did this computer do?” Casey asked.

“Well, this computer did everything. After 9/11 the NSA and CIA were told to play nice. Share their intel. This is how we did it,” Beckman replied.

“Every scrap of data we had went into this computer. It mined for patterns in the chatter, saw things we didn’t,” Graham said.

“The data was encrypted into thousands of images. Whoever received Larkin’s e-mail got all our secrets. Find those secrets, Casey,” Beckman ordered.

“Found this on Larkin. Hard drive’s fried but we got a trace signature. Followed it back to an Alexander Harris, Larkin’s old Stanford roommate. Turns out he’s on the NSA’s watch list,” Casey said, holding up the broken computer.

“Why?” Graham asked immediately.

“Your rogue agent’s best friend stole a Vampir RPG-29 from the Sunnydale Air Force base back in ’99. It turned up in the hands of one Elizabeth Anne Summers who discharged it in the middle of the local mall to take out some serial killer or something. The details don’t matter. She’s the same one that destroyed the rogue Initiative operation under the city. He was caught on camera during the fracas using a dead soldier’s M4 to impressive ability,” Casey explained with a disturbing smirk on his face.

“I’m not familiar with this Initiative affair,” Graham admitted.

“You wouldn’t be. It was a military debacle that the NSA cleaned up. All you need to know is that it was a science project gone wrong. A lot of dangerous hostiles were created as a result and this Harris and Summers were instrumental in ending it,” Beckman said curtly.

“Are we concerned that Harris is going to hand these secrets over to Summers? What branch of the military is she part of?” Graham asked.

“She isn’t, though she had NSA operative status while she was deconstructing the Initiative for us. She’s died in some event a year later,” Beckman said off-handedly.

“Traced him to Los Angeles, Burbank. Which is perfect. Been feeling a little pasty,” Casey said. He turned and walked out of the room without another word. Beckman turned to Graham.

“You already knew some of that. You have someone after Harris as we speak,” she accused him.

“I didn’t know enough, it seems,” Graham replied.

 

_*_

 

The rest of the day sluggishly rolled by and he let Dawn drive home while listening to her rant and rave about Harry Tang and his unwanted advances. Finally, when they parked near the complex, he showed her Sarah’s card.

“So, you gonna call her?” Dawn asked with a hint of jealousy in her voice.

Xander laughed long and hard. “No, I live in this dimension. Girls like her don’t go for guys like me. This is a trap,” he replied.

“Xander Harris. Don’t put yourself down like that. Of course a woman like her would be interested in you,” she said sternly.

He sighed and waved her off. “Please, Dawnie, can we just forget it? I’m not calling her. She’ll get over me by tomorrow and I’ll never see her again. Just as nature intended,” he said.

“Fine,” she griped. They both grabbed their vampire-killing wooden stakes and put them up their sleeves before exiting the Nerd Herder and heading into the complex. It was extremely rare for their peaceful courtyard to get any kind of supernatural action but they were always prepared. This was their usual after dark procedure.

Dawn kept shooting looks at Xander as they approached his townhouse. “What?” he finally asked.

“You really gonna let Harry Tang get the assistant manager spot?” she asked.

“I couldn’t give a rat’s ass if he gets it or not,” he replied gruffly, pushing open his front door. Dawn was about to refute his comment but they had frozen still in shock inside was a ninja holding Xander’s desktop computer.

“Holy…” Dawn cursed. The ninja gently set the tower down, then lunged at Xander. It kicked him backwards into Dawn who crashed into the umbrella stand by the front door. Xander slipped his stake, point concealed, into his hand scrambled to his feet only to have them swept out from under him again. He lashed out blindly and clubbed the ninja in the temple. It stumbled back and crashed down onto his computer, breaking it.

The ninja flipped to its feet only to be staring down the length of a genuine rapier and a crossbow. It tried to move but Dawn flicked the rapier and slashed a cut across the ninja’s chest. Xander simply locked the drawstring of the crossbow in place. Clearly in severe jeopardy, the ninja decided discretion was the better part of survival and took off through the back of Xander’s townhouse.

“Who the hell uses a ninja to steal a computer?” he demanded before assessing his computer.

The ninja made it to her car and slid into the driver’s seat. She pulled off her black mask revealing herself as Sarah from the store. Tentatively she touched the bleeding head wound on the side of her head and the slash wound across her collarbone.

“Who the hell uses medieval weaponry to fight off a ninja?” she demanded before speeding off.


	2. Part 2

Xander dropped himself onto the loading dock where his two lackeys sat awaiting deliveries. Jeff and Lester were figuratively joined at the hip in a way that really creeped him out sometimes. He had just regaled them of his experience with the computer destroying ninja of the previous night.

“You’re not even remotely scared by it?” Lester asked. Xander chuckled and looked up at the twitchy Indian man.

“Were you listening to anything I said?” Xander said with a laugh.

“Well, yeah, but it was a bluff, right? There’s no way Dawn would shiv him, right?” Lester asked.

“I knew a girl who only got excited when she inflicted violence on people,” Jeff commented in his far off deadpan voice like he was reliving a fond memory.

“Thanks for that Jeff. I didn’t need to relive how I lost my virginity,” Xander quipped uneasily. He thumbed through his possible computer replacements in the Buy More catalog.

“What if the ninja comes back while you’re sleeping and kills you in your sleep in some kind of deadly ninja vendetta?” Jeff asked. Xander gaped at him for a second before placing the catalog on the loading dock.

“Thanks for that, Jeff. I think I’m gonna take a gander over to Large Mart next door and stock up on the essentials,” Xander replied.

“You have a list of essentials concerning ninja attacks?” Lester asked.

“Making it right now, actually. So far, I’m thinking new locks, more locks, turpentine, electric cables, and a box of nails,” Xander mused, jumping down from the dock before they could freak him out any more.

He walked briskly to the Large Mart next door and grabbed a basket. Xander perused the isles, grabbing an absurd number of locks for all occasions and in case this ninja thing would be reoccurring. Stranger things have happened to him. Maybe the ninja would turn out to be a woman and they could strike up a whirlwind romance based on attempted assassination. At least he could tell Ellie and Awesome the full details of that relationship. No more dancing over the word demon or curse or any other thing that could clue them into the larger world. Ninja would be so much easier to explain.

“Is there something you want?” a voice growled out in a raspy Eastern European accent next to him. Xander blinked, not realizing he had been standing uncomfortably close to someone. He turned and made eye contact with the raggedy looking red-haired man. That rush of blood blew past his ears causing his brain to fire uncontrollably. Information flashed through his brain again. Andric Vuc. DOB 10/6/1980. Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Bombs, explosions, buildings collapsing. The General from the news the previous day.

“Hah, no. Not from you, sir. I was merely observing the fine Large Mart products,” Xander said quickly. He turned on his heel and hurried out of the aisle. Of course, he wasn’t looking where he was going and when he turned down the paint aisle he ran right into a woman, knocking them both to the cold cement ground.

“Xander! What the hell is wrong with you?” Cordelia demanded. Xander groaned to himself and cursed his atrocious luck. He quickly helped her to her feet and picked up her basket and all the paints.

“Struck up an artist phase, Cordy?” he asked.

“The boys are gonna ruin the entry way tonight so I’m getting prepared, hence the paint and turpentine,” she said.

Xander started picking up his own basket. “Ooh, hand me a few cans of that, will you?” he asked. She took a few off the shelf and handed them to him as he stood back up.

“What is all that?” she asked warily. If he was shopping for hunting supplies she’d understand but he’d been out of the vampire game for years now. Plus, if he had a run in with any vamps lately he’d call them immediately.

“Ninja proofing,” he said seriously. She raised an eyebrow at him and he just nodded in affirmation.

“Why? Dare I ask…” she asked.

“I got attacked by a ninja trying to steal my computer last night. Check it with Dawn if you’d like. So, I’m ninja proofing,” he said.

“Isn’t this a bit much? This looks like when we’re trying to protect against demon attacks. Nail shrapnel, blow torches, electric currents?” she wondered.

“Hey, I’ve been having a pretty bad two…” he said, trailing off. Dawn’s comment about Cordy describing her visions came back to him. Then the information about the General and the terrorist a few aisles over and the shower incident came glaring back to him. “You gave me your visions when you kissed me on my birthday! You said all kinds of things about being a hero and all that and now I have your visions! What the hell, Cordy?” he demanded. Cordelia’s eyebrows reached for her hairline before she settled into a familiar scowl.

“I didn’t give up my visions, dorkus. I’m here because of one. Something is coming to the Hyperion tonight and the boys are going to trash the entry way,” she explained icily.

“So, there is no way I can have your visions?” he asked.

“No. Not my visions. I still have my visions. I told you I was willing to around the bases that night. We didn’t actually com-shuk,” she replied.

“How is Groo these days?” he asked cordially.

“African wilderness protecting tribes from warlords. Found his calling I guess,” she said.

“Ah, those inter-dimensional warriors always keep you guessing, don’t they?” he said wistfully.

“You still haven’t told me why you ran into me or why a ninja wanted your computer. Have you been hacking Asia again?” she asked.

“The band or the continent?” he deflected with a grin. Xander started walking away.

“Damnit, Xander!” Cordelia called out. He gave her a playful smirk as he disappeared around the corner.

Xander got in line at the registers and unloaded his supplies onto the conveyor belt.  At the next register over the Serbian terrorist was laughing at something the clerk said. Xander couldn’t repress the shudder as his clerk rang him up. The Serb looked back at him and his expression hardened. Xander gulped, handed over more cash than necessary to the checker and hurried back to the Buy More.

 

_*_

 

“I have eyes on him right now. Like I said, the computer was destroyed beyond repair,” Sarah said in her full Australian accent, not the watered down one she was using yesterday. She casually watched Xander from her parked car as he walked back to the Buy More.

“Okay, it’s done. I want you in the air in an hour,” the Director replied over the phone from his office in D.C.

“But, what if he has an external drive, sir? He could have a backup,” Sarah argued.

“It’s over, Sarah. The NSA is stepping in. Bryce was CIA. He was our guy, and he burned us. Casey is on his way out. You’re being recalled,” he explained.

Sarah looked around in disbelief. Her anger simmered right under the surface. “Because of Casey? He’s a burnout,” she said dismissively.

“He’s a killer, Sarah. Old School. The NSA revealed information to me that categorizes Harris as a great threat. Include demolitions and firearms to his known training as well as second story work.” he said. Sarah paled at the new intel. She couldn’t reconcile what she saw yesterday to what the Director just said.

“I know he’s dangerous, sir. I underestimated him once and only once,” she argued.

“Listen to me. Whatever happened with Bryce, you couldn’t have known. You couldn’t have stopped it. No matter what Harris can tell you about him, you can’t change the past,” he said.

“But I can fix it. If there’s a backup, I’ll find it. Just give me 12 hours,” she insisted. Sarah hung up before the Director could deny her.

 

_*_

 

Waiting at the loading bay doors were the ever-inquisitive Jeff and Lester but Xander brushed right by him and shoved the bag of supplies into his locker. He slammed the door closed and could feel their presence on either side of him.

“Back to work, men. If Anna is the only Nerd out there we are putting out a legally objectionable stereotype!” Xander ordered. However, instead of returning to their posts like he intended, Jeff and Lester, or Jeffster, simply disappeared. Xander wandered back to the Nerd Herd desk and dropped into his chair. His head flopped down onto his arms in an attempt to hide from his migraine.

The bell dinged loudly next to him and he grabbed the offending hand. “Dawn… I do not have the patience for this right now…” he said lowly. However, he couldn’t feel a very distinctive ring that Joyce gave her and it was didn’t feel small enough for Anna’s hand which meant that he had just grabbed a customer. His head snapped up and saw Sarah smirking at him. Xander sat up straight and put on a smooth, cool expression. “How can I help you?”

Sarah’s face fell into a frown. “Phone issues, again, I’m afraid. I don’t think its receiving calls anymore,” she explained.

“Oh? Not a usual problem for the IntelliCell. What’s going on to make you think that?” he asked.

“I never got your call,” she said impishly. Xander was taken aback by that.

“Oh, well, that’d be because I didn’t?” he lamely offered in response. Her perfectly sculpted eye-brow arched up.

“I’m disappointed…” she said.

“Sorry, it was my own self-image holding my phone hostage. Said you’re too good to be true,” he admitted. Surprise and something more guarded flashed across her face for a moment.

“Well, are you free tonight?” she asked.

“I… I am,” he replied.

“Great,” she said with a nervous laugh. “See you tonight at seven, then?” she asked as she scribbled down her address on the back of another of his cards.

“Seven. Okay. Seven it is,” he babbled. She slipped the card into his shirt pocket and walked out of the store, his eyes following every step she took.

“Okay, this is a trap,” Dawn said behind him. Xander just nodded.

 

_*_

 

Casey watched Sarah walk out of the Buy More with a grimace on his face. He dialed his phone and held it to his ear.

“Major Casey, report,” Beckman said.

“I have eyes on a CIA spook, Larkin’s old flame,” Casey growled out.

Beckman sighed angrily. “I knew Langston would send her,” she said.

“Orders?” he asked.

“If she gets in the way, terminate her,” she said.

“Only if she gets in the way?” he asked.

“She may be helpful in isolating the target for you. Patience, Casey,” she said. Casey hung up with a grunt and drove off.

 

_*_

 

That evening after work, Xander pushed open the door to Willow and Tara’s townhouse and found them cuddling on the couch reading books. He stepped into the living room with his hands raised in surrender.

“Willow, Tara. Don’t be alarmed, but something’s come up,” he said slowly. Willow and Tara sat up quickly, clearly alarmed. Willow looked on the brink of an interrogation and Tara just looked worried. Dawn entered the house and dropped her bag by the door.

“Xander’s got a date. We think she’s a demon,” she said bluntly, heading for a fridge. Xander sighed and rolled his eyes.

“You got a date?” Tara asked happily.

“Another demon?” Willow asked with a frown.

“She could be! She could be a demon. It’s a possibility,” Xander explained quickly.

“She’s an 11, she’s blonde, and she came on way too strong. Twice in two days,” Dawn said around a mouthful of peanut butter and something that Xander did not want to know about. Could be raspberries and pistachios for all he knew.

“That doesn’t have to mean d-demon, Dawnie,” Tara replied unhappily. Dawn flushed pink in embarrassment and walked back into the kitchen.

“She does have a point though,” Willow stated.

“Oh, come on. Is it that ridiculous that a hot woman could actually find me attractive and not be trying to eat me or use my chest cavity to plant her eggs in?” Xander demanded. An uncomfortable pause filled the room.

“Okay, she might be demon,” Tara conceded with a small, playful smile on her face. Xander threw his hands up in the air in defeat.

“What are you going to wear?” Willow asked.

“Um, something clean from my closet that is vetted and approved by the residents of this house?” Xander offered sheepishly.

“I’ll get D-Devon, he should be home by now,” Tara said with an amused shake of her head.

“No, no, I do not want Captain Awesome dressing me,” Xander protested.

“Come on, Xan. He’s got impeccable taste. The two of you are pretty much the same size… what’s the issue?” Dawn argued.

“He’s Captain Awesome,” Xander stated bluntly.

“For a reason. He’s awesome,” Willow pointed out. Xander sighed in defeat once again.

“Fine, fine. Subject me to him,” Xander said in resignation. Tara slipped on her sandals and headed next door.

“What are you going to do about the possibly demon lady?” Dawn asked.

“Not get eaten,” Xander and Willow said in unison.

“Great, same old, same old,” Dawn said.

“Tell me about her. What’s her name? What’s she like or at least what do you think she’s like cause if she’s a demon trying to eat you she most certainly wouldn’t have been telegraphing that play at all or we would be in the axe murderer phase and not the first date phase,” Willow rambled.

“Her name’s Sarah. She’s very nice, I think. Great smile even though it usually doesn’t reach her eyes. There’s always some gears turning up there with her. I guess that’s a plus, though, right?” Xander asked.

“Does she think you’re funny?” Willow asked.

“Yeah, I think so. She was laughing. We only spoke about twenty words to each other,” Xander said.

Dawn walked into the room with an overly dramatic roll of her eyes. She dropped down onto the other side of the couch, her spot, and took a long drink of her soda. “Oh, please. It was all fireworks and chemistry with those two! They were too busy making puppy eyes at each other to get to talking,” Dawn griped.

Willow placed her hands on his shoulders and pulled him in for a tight hug. “You’re on top of the world, Xan. The world just doesn’t know it yet,” she said gently.

“The Jesse line? I’m honored,” he replied.

“I try,” she said.

“Love you, Wills,” he said. She smiled brightly at him.

“I love you, too, Xander. Always and forever,” she replied.

The door opened up and the living Greek statue known as Devon Whitcomb walked in with Ellie and Tara behind him. “Date night? Xan-man, this is awesome,” Devon said with a wide grin. Xander exhaled deeply.

“Help?” he asked.

“Of course, man. Let’s get you ready for this lady,” Devon replied.

“Is she good for you? No more damsels in distress or clones of Jill?” Ellie asked sternly.

“To answer your questions, yes and then no,” Xander replied.

“Relax, Ellie. Your favorite cousin can take care of himself,” Devon said smoothly. Ellie pulled him in for a bone crushing hug before Devon led Xander out of the apartment.

“You two look terrified,” Dawn pointed out. Willow and Ellie nodded.

“Petrified,” Willow replied weakly.

“But this is momentous, right? A step in his recovery? You’re the one that has that spreadsheet detailing the necessary steps for his being normal again,” Ellie said with a wry smile. Willow fidgeted, unable to come up with a response. Fortunately, Tara knew exactly what her beloved was thinking and stepped in for her.

“It’s because he’s Xander. A lifetime of friendship generally leads to worry even if he’s doing what she wants him to do,” Tara explained. Ellie nodded in agreement.

“Reminds me of Chuck when he started his acting career,” Ellie remembered.

“You mean the Great Charles Carmichael wasn’t great once?” Dawn asked sarcastically.

“Dawnie, just because he wasn’t nice to you one time doesn’t mean you should hold onto it forever,” Tara said.

“No, no… I think it’s justified. I’m just waiting for Charles Carmichael to fade out of the spotlight so Chuck Bartowski can come back. I miss my dorky little brother,” Ellie said.

“He’s got that Disney voice-over gig, that’s a plus right?” Dawn asked.

 

_*_

 

Sarah walked about the CIA provided apartment, going over the updated file the Director had sent her on Alexander Harris. She wasn’t sure what to make of the evening after reading it. On one hand, the small documented events paint the picture of a thief and terrorist. However, the unconfirmed stories about him show more of a vigilante or freedom fighter. The murder rate in Sunnydale was extremely high back then and steadily dropped as his supposed involvement increased.

Still, despite how he seemed working with the clone of her teenage self, Sarah decided she needed to prepare for someone as dangerous as his file suggests. She strapped on concealable body armor and a great number of throwing knives under her clothing but still made her look flirty and playful. Her cold expression transformed into the woman he was expecting from their two conversations.

She finished off her appearance by twisting her hair up into a complicated up-do and holding it in place with two poisoned metal chopsticks perfect for throwing. The phone on her table rang and she snatched it up. “Sir?” she asked.

“What’s the status?” the Director asked.

“He’s picking me up for a date,” she replied as she checked herself out in the mirror.

“You’re on your own on this one, Sarah. I can’t help you if something goes wrong,” he said.

“I’m not sure about this guy,” she admitted.

“Nice guys aren’t sent government secrets and they definitely don’t steal rocket launchers from military bases in high school,” he deadpanned.

“But isn’t it also so anomalous that something else had to have been going on? No one steals a rocket launcher from a military base in high school,” she pointed out.

“Psychoanalyze later, Sarah,” he reminded her.

At eight p.m. on the dot, a casual but sharply dressed Xander knocked on Sarah’s apartment door. She glanced at it and slowly walked over. She picked up her gun off the bed, checked the ammo, and tucked it into the back of her belt.

“What should I do if he runs?” she asked. Sarah answered the door with a drop-dead gorgeous smile. Xander smiled back.

“Kill him,” the Director said simply.

“I hope I’m not interrupting,” he said, offering her the bouquet of flowers in his hands. She hung up the phone and bit her lip cutely as she accepted them.

“No, not at all. They’re beautiful,” she replied. Sarah placed them on her bed and returned to the door.

“I was thinking of a great Mexican place in North Hollywood if that isn’t too shady for you?” he offered.

“Sounds great,” she replied.

“Good, I was hoping not to scare you off with the… uh, sights of North Hollywood,” he admitted. She smiled radiantly at him.

“It’ll take a lot more than that to scare me off,” she said sweetly. Xander smiled back but internally was afraid of that answer.

“Shall we?” he asked, holding his arm out in a gentlemanly fashion. She took it and gave him another radiant smile.

“After you,” she said.

They stepped outside her building and he guided her to a 1967 black convertible Plymouth GTX, also known as Angel’s pride and joy. Xander opened up the passenger side for her and gave a satirical bow. “Your carriage, my lady,” he said. She laughed and climbed in. He discreetly checked the talisman hanging off the keys for any glowing lights but it was inert. His date was officially not a demon. Still, not exactly comforted.

“This is your off-duty car? I thought you’d be picking me up in one of those Nerd Herders,” she admitted.

“No, sadly. I only have the red-and-white monstrosity. This beauty is an old friend of mine’s. He’ll know soon enough that I’ve commandeered such a vehicle for my noble cause,” he quipped. Sarah laughed and for once the smile reached her eyes.

“You stole your friend’s car?” she asked incredulously.

“Steal is a harsh word. It’s more like a timeshare he’s only vaguely aware of,” he remarked, jingling the keys. Xander hopped over his door into the front seat. He failed to catch her thin smile to his flippant reaction towards theft. Part of her hoped it was a mistake, that he could have never stolen that rocket launcher but the way he causally took his friend’s car made her think otherwise.

“What’ll he do when he finds out?” she asked innocently. Xander shuddered.

“On a bad day? I shudder to think about it. As you just saw,” he said. He put the car in gear and took off down the road. As they rolled through North Hollywood, he subtle watched her out of the corner of his eye. She seemed truly relaxed and just enjoying the ride contrary to the uneasy glances and guarded looks he was used to already.

“You seem like a really good guy, Xander,” she said out of the blue.

“R-really? Thanks. That’s a good thing, right? Women in my life tend to go for the bad boy image and I really fail at that,” he admitted.

“Nice is good,” she said with a certainty he couldn’t understand.

“So… are you new to town?” he casually asked.

“Yeah. I just moved here from DC,” she replied.

“DC to LA? Enjoying our lack of oppressive humidity? I bet your hair is,” he said. Sarah laughed lightly.

“I am. It’s a pleasant change. I had a… I was in a relationship I needed to get away from. Bry- Bruce and I had something special and with him gone, I couldn’t stay around. I’m sorry, that’s a lot of baggage to toss around,” she said quietly.

“You gave me grief over Xander and you dated a Bruce?” he joked lightly.

“What can I say, I’m a bit of a hypocrite,” she replied with a weak smile.

“Well, don’t worry about the baggage. I can be you’re very own baggage carrier you’d like,” he said without thinking. Sarah flushed lightly at the romantic offer and an awkward silence filled the air.

“I’m actually not that hungry… maybe we could do something else?” she asked. Xander nodded uncomfortably and ran through the in his mind.

“What kind of music do you like?” he asked.

“I…uh… the musical kind?” she replied lamely.

“What’s your favorite band?” he tried. Sarah laughed awkwardly.

“I…” she sputtered out.

“Okay. Wow. That’s new. Is that your big secret by the way? Cause I’ve been sitting here trying to figure out what’s wrong with you. I was thinking, either she’s a demon or she doesn’t like music,” he joked. Sarah let out a sigh of relief.

“No, not a demon. I can’t believe you thought that of me,” she said indignantly. Xander laughed and shook his head.

“Don’t worry. It’s my own personal failing, nothing to do with you. Me and dates… well, they don’t end well most of the time. I don’t know. Forget it,” he rambled.

“I know what that feels like,” she replied gently.

“I truly hope you don’t,” he said. Sarah cleared her throat uncomfortably.

“So, how does someone live around here on a Nerd Herder salary?” she asked.

“Not easily, I’ll tell you that. My best friend, her life partner, that nosy coworker of mine, my doctor cousin, her doctor boyfriend, and I split most of our costs to maintain our three townhouses,” he explained. Sarah smiled wistfully to herself.

“It must be nice to have such a close-knit family,” she stated.

“It is,” he replied simply. Another awkward silence filled the air. They pulled to a stop on a freeway overpass in a large line-up of cars at a stop light. Xander glanced out over the overpass at a police motorcade on the Hollywood Freeway passing by underneath. The blood rush built up in his temple as images flashed over his vision detailing a bomb threat against the NATO general he’d been seeing. He clenched his eyes shut in pain.

“God, I’m sorry. This is probably the worst date you’ve ever been on,” she said. Xander didn’t reply as he was still shaking off the effects of his latest vision. “Wow, you were supposed to say: No, of course not. I’ve had far worse.”

Xander shook his head to clear the last residuals. “What? Sorry, I spaced out there… oh, and this is far from this worst date I’ve ever had. I’ve dated girls who seemed interested in eating me alive and spitting my bones out,” he replied, more serious than she realized. The light turned green and they started moving again.

“That brutal, huh? I’d expect women like that would be easy to spot a mile away,” she said.

“You’d be surprised,” he said dryly.

 

_*_

 

Two cars back, Casey loaded his pistol and drew back the slide. He and his team of five other NSA agents had been tailing them from Sarah’s apartment.

“Alexander Harris is your mark. NSA director wants him with a pulse. Till we find out who he’s working with and what he knows, he lives. The CIA skirt you can kill,” he instructed.

Two of the agents, Riley Finn and Graham Miller, couldn’t let their unease go unspoken anymore. “Sir, we all know what he’s capable of, especially in the presence of women he thinks need protection,” Riley responded.

“Should we really be going after heroes?” Graham added.

“I remember Sunnydale, Agents Finn and Miller. Stick to the plan,” Casey barked.

 

_*_

 

Xander parked the car outside a popular dance club. Sarah glanced around analytically. “A night club?” she asked.

“Ah, well, short notice and the first thing I could think of. My friends have been known to blow off steam at places like this,” he explained.

“What about you?” she asked.

“I’ve never really been the dancing type,” he admitted. Sarah gracefully rose from the car.

“I’m okay at,” she admitted modestly. Several princes and dignitaries would have said differently if they had survived the night.

“I’ve always been a fan of making people look good by showing how awful my moves are,” he said.

“Xander? What are you doing out here… wait. Is that my car?!”

Xander spun around and saw Angel, Wesley, and Gunn coming towards him with standard demon hunting weapons behind their backs. Xander paled a bit and held his hands up in surrender. “I believe it is. Surprise? I’m borrowing it tonight cause I didn’t want to take my lovely date here out in a Nerd Herder?” he replied.

“I get that. That thing turns men into virgins,” Gunn said under his breath.

“Classy,” Sarah replied derisively.

“Look, Angel. There is not a scratch on her. I swear,” Xander said.

They all heard a lot of swearing and the sound of a motorcycle not too far off. Wesley, Gunn, and Angel took up defensive positions, causing Xander to put Sarah behind him. He could tell the three guys were out hunting something but he didn’t know what and he was very close to telling Sarah to go inside so she wouldn’t have to see what was about to happen.

“Xander, what’s going on?” Sarah asked, discretely fingering the grip on her pistol behind her back.

“Not sure,” he replied in an emotionless tone that worried her.

“Got the slimy bastard by the antlers! Not easy to hold on!” Spike screamed from a block away.

“Angel?” Xander asked.

“Literal. Get out of here,” Angel replied quickly.

Casey’s black SUV came tearing around the corner a few blocks up and Sarah pulled out her gun, startling everyone. She grabbed Xander by his shirtsleeve and tugged him toward her.

“Xander! We have to go. That man has orders to kill you,” Sarah said in her full accent.

“What?” Xander demanded.

“Listen to me, Xander. Those men will kill you. They’re from the NSA and they’re after you,” she explained quickly.

“Wait, why? Why, me? I haven’t done anything remotely illegal in almost a decade!” he argued.

Spike came around his corner wresting with the large antlered Chaos Demon on his motorcycle. The bike skidded out and plowed straight through Angel’s car. The demon got up and ran right by Xander and Sarah.

“Don’t let him get away! He nearly ran through Fred and Cordy! Gut the bastard!” Spike yelled at Xander.

“Xander, go,” Wesley said, tossing Xander a Japanese style dagger. He caught it reflexively and palmed it behind him.

“Yeah, man. These guys want your head? They gotta come through us,” Gunn said.

“I’m on it,” Xander replied. Sarah didn’t understand even the slightest bit what just happened. She was still getting over the man with actual antlers dripping in slime running away. Xander sprinted past her to catch up with what they called a demon.

Wesley stepped out into the middle of the road and into the path of the speeding SUV. He chanted in Latin and a ball of distorted air flew out of his hand and impacted the front of the vehicle. It buckled and pitched end over end, landing on its roof. Both Angel and Spike vamped out and descended on the vehicle.

A block down, Sarah had almost caught up with Xander when he flipped the dagger around into a reverse grip like a pro. The dagger shone in the streetlights as he lunged into the air and jammed the blade through the neck of the antlered man. It let out a howl that sounded nothing like she had ever heard before as it went down to the ground. Xander rolled away and came up a slimy mess. He had a dark gleam in his eye that she remembered Bryce having after she nearly got killed on their first mission together. Her stomach did an unwanted flip flop of attraction and arousal.

“What is going on?” Sarah demanded, pointing her gun at the dead man on the ground and then at Xander.

“That is a demon. I was hoping you weren’t going to find out about this side of the world on a first date. Actually, I was mainly hoping that you weren’t a demon yourself because I’m kinda a magnet for them. Though, I have to ask: you’re carrying a gun? There’re people trying to kill me? The NSA is trying to kill me? I have contacts in the NSA!” Xander demanded in return. Sarah glanced around at their exposed position and pulled out her phone, deciding to ignore him for the moment being.

“Request emergency air EVAC. Track location, we’re on foot,” she said. She grabbed Xander’s hand and dragged him into the nearby parking ten story parking garage. “Let’s go!”

“You’re supposed to be yelling and screaming about the impossibility of demons, not acting like a Bond Girl!” Xander pointed out as they took the stairs three at a time.

“I’m with the CIA, nothing is too impossible,” she rationalized, mainly to herself. She kept a tight hold on the hand that had the dagger so he couldn’t use it against her despite feeling the slimy purplish blood dripping onto her fingers.

“Okay, fine! But why is the NSA trying to kill me?” he demanded again. Sarah shoved against the roof access door and stepped out onto a helipad.

“How well do you actually know Bryce Larkin?” she asked.

“Bryce? How do you know him?” he shot back.

“We worked together at the CIA!” she replied quickly.

“What? Bryce is a spy? Bryce Larkin from Connecticut is a spy?” he demanded.

“A rogue spy. Did he try to contact you?” she asked.

“Yeah, two nights ago. For my birthday. He sent me an e-mail after not hearing from him for first time in four years,” he answered.

“Did you open it?” she asked.

“Of course I did. It a line from a game we made back in college. It was a riddle and a solved it and there were lots of nonsensical pictures,” he replied.

“You saw them?” she asked in abject horror.

“I believe I just said that,” he replied dryly.

“Your computer, did you back it up? Is there an external drive?” she asked.

“It crashed last night... wait a sec… you were the ninja!” he exclaimed, taking a step back from her. He made a quick glance to her temple and collarbone and saw makeup thick enough to hide the wounds Xander and Dawn gave her.

Sarah glanced behind him and followed the shadow of Casey coming up the last few stairs. “Okay. I may have to aim my gun at you, so don’t freak out,” she said quietly.

“Yeah, that’s comforting,” he muttered.

Casey walked up to the pair, rubbing his neck where a clear bruise pattern of someone’s hands were. “I have to hand it to you Harris. Even after everything we’d been through, I didn’t think you’d sic two vampires, a demon hunter, and a sorcerer on me,” Casey said blankly.

“Body count?” Xander asked in that same emotionless tone.

“None. Your buddies just went for the knock out and disappeared. Spared Finn and Miller since they seem to be in cahoots with you still. Saw the ashes of that demon you chased after, though. I bet you killed it clean since I don’t think Barbie over there shot him in the back,” he said.

“Not her job,” Xander replied.

Casey brought his gun up on Sarah. She turned on him in response. “It’s late. I’m tired. Let’s cut the crap and give him to me, now. He belongs to the NSA,” Casey ordered.

Sarah turned her gun on Xander. “CIA gets him first. You come any closer and I shoot,” she said.

Xander looked at the guns and pulled out a stake and pointed it at Casey while turning the blade on Sarah.

“Is that a fence stake?” Sarah demanded. Casey just gave an amused grunt.


	3. Part 3

“You shoot him, I shoot you. I leave both your bodies here; go out for a late snack. I’m thinking maybe pancakes,” Casey said. Xander turned and pointed the blade at him.

“I’m not in favor of that plan, from either of you,” Xander said.

“I’m a little far for your knife, moron,” Casey stated, turning his gun on him.

“You’d like to think that, wouldn’t you? I could throw this fast enough to put it through your head. It’s enchanted by that sorcerer,” Xander bluffed.

“You’re bluffing,” Casey said.

“You willing to risk that? You know what I do when the sun comes down,” Xander challenged. Casey fired a single shot, ripping through the shoulder of Xander’s shirt but leaving him unharmed. He spun around and ended up staring at the hotel across the way. The blood rushed through his head again and the images flashed by.

“Xander!” Sarah yelled, running towards him as he dropped to his knees.

“He’s fine, I didn’t even touch him,” Casey said dismissively.

Xander realized that each and every vision he’d had so far pointed to one thing: the upcoming terrorist bombing against former NATO General Stanfield at this hotel by the Serbian terrorist Andric Vuc. It wasn’t random information at all but intelligence encoded in images. All that was left was the beeping of a bomb in his ears.

“There’s a bomb in that building,” Xander stated quietly.

“What? Why?” Casey demanded.

“Serbian terrorist Andric Vuc, born 10/6/1980. Demolitions expert. He put a bomb in the hotel to kill General Stanfield,” Xander rattled off.

“Xander, how do you know this?” Sarah asked.

“I don’t know! It’s just in my head. I’ve started getting visions from who knows where! I do know that last week, the NSA, you guys, intercepted some blueprints for that hotel. The CIA found a file of schematics of a bomb in Prague. Two and two equal four! Especially when a picture of apple pie tells me so!” Xander exclaimed in frustration.

Casey turned his gun on Xander, forcing Sarah to point hers back on him. “He was working with Bryce, again. Of course he was. Those two… always those two!” Casey spat out furiously.

“No! Casey, he opened Bryce’s e-mail,” Sarah said.

“You have to be kidding me,” Casey groaned.

“Xander, those pictures you saw were encoded with secrets. Government secrets. If you saw them, then you know them,” Sarah said.

“There were thousands of them,” Xander said as he turned around.

“You’re telling me that all of our secrets are in his head?” Casey asked. The red laser dot from his gun trailed up Xander’s chest to his forehead.

“Xander is the computer,” Sarah said.

“Okay, this is crazy. If you have such a problem with something Bryce did, join the club and we’ll hate him for the rest of his life,” Xander snidely remarked.

“Bryce is dead! He died sending those secrets to you,” Sarah exclaimed. Xander felt like the wind was knocked out of him. A pregnant silence filled the air between him and Sarah. Casey fired his pistol into the air, startling them back to the present.

“Look! Can we stop this bomb?” Casey demanded.

“You’re on board to do that… cause, that’s what I was wanting to do and I’d be thankful for you not killing me and instead helping me stop a terrorist attack on American soil,” Xander remarked.

“Do we have time?” Casey demanded again. Xander checked his watch and blanched.

“The, uh, the general’s already on the stage,” Xander replied.

“Then we can’t waste time, can we?” Casey said. He holstered his pistol and the three of them ran back down the stairwell and out of the parking garage.

Sarah skidded to a stop in the hotel courtyard. “Wait! Casey! Wait! We can’t take him in, he’s too valuable,” Sarah insisted.

“Okay, Steve Rodgers. Stay here but tell us where to go,” Casey ordered. He grabbed Xander by the shirt and tried to slam him to the ground but Xander reversed the grip and twisted Casey’s arms up in his to lock them in place before forcing him to his knees.

“Don’t do that,” Xander said coldly. He let go and ran into the hotel with Sarah hot on his heels. She didn’t know what to make of the two sides of Alexander Harris. She just refused to think about it at the moment. Casey pushed himself to his feet and took off after them.

They burst into the ballroom and found it filled with people. Xander froze and scanned the room with his eyes.

“Xander, where is it?” Sarah asked.

“It’s bigger than a breadbasket but smaller than an oven which means our loaf is right… there,” he said, pointing to the one out of place dining cart in the middle of the room towards the stage. Casey shoved him and they quickly made their way through the tables to the cart. Sarah pulled back the lid on the cart and revealed a Prism Express laptop wired up to a mechanism and about twenty bricks of C4.

“Oh, god,” Sarah said under her breath. She and Casey dropped to their knees to examine the bomb more closely.

“Any ideas?” Casey asked.

“Disconnect the laptop,” Sarah replied.

“No good, auto-trigger. The cables?” Casey offered.

“No, definitely a trap,” Sarah said.

Xander looked at quizzically and felt something move through his brain. Not a flash like the government secrets gave him, but something older from when he was in Stanford. Bryce and he had sabotaged the dean’s computer by hacking the coding and hitting it with a series of viruses and malware they dubbed the Harris special.

“Guys, I got this.” Xander said, kneeling between them and making a show of cracking his knuckles and neck.

“Are you kidding? Did you download Bomb Diffusing for Dummies while you were at it?” Casey hissed out.

“No, but I am a computer nerd. Trust me,” Xander replied.

“What’re you doing?!” A security guard exclaimed. Sarah and Casey stood up to keep the guards away while Xander worked. General Stanfield looked upon the situation with growing horror.

“Ladies and Gentlemen. We may have a cautionary situation here, so we’ll take a short break,” he announced before quickly departing the stage without a thought for the other people in the room. In a matter of seconds the room started to clear out.

“Xander, any time now,” Casey said.

Xander breathed in deeply and raised the computer screen. Green numbers flashed down the remaining thirty seconds. He started typing and accessing in the internal workings of the computer. He hit it with virus after virus, reconstructing the Harris special in record time. Bryce’s record was thirty seconds. Twenty-five seconds went by as he typed until the screen shorted out and turned off. He not only stopped a bomb but beat Bryce’s record. A double-win in his book.

“You did it,” Sarah breathed out in relief. Casey grunted and exited the room.

“I know…” Xander said in shock. Sarah patted him on the shoulder and followed Casey out. The two agents walked all the way to the far fountain before speaking.

“What if this is a fluke?” Casey demanded.

“What if it wasn’t? What if he can stop something bigger?” Sarah shot back.

“Fine, we’ll drop him in a psyche tank and let him stare at four rubber walls. He’ll tell us what we wanna know,” he replied.

“Casey, we don’t know how this works and what triggers the memories. He’ll crack wide open!” she argued.

“Not my job. I break things, I don’t fix them,” he said callously.

“What about his job and his family and this very apparent demonic threat we witnessed tonight?” she asked.

“I suggest you stay out of it. The last time the government tried to get involved in the supernatural, a mystically empowered 5’3” blonde girl had to take the military to task. But you already know all about that, Major Casey. I remember you from the cleanup. You hated that two geeks like Bryce and myself were involved in covering up the government’s astronomical failure,” Xander said bitingly as he approached. Casey growled at him.

“Xander, Bryce sent those secrets to you for a reason. He obviously trusted you to do something with them,” Sarah said.

“I have no idea what he wanted me to do,” Xander replied.

“Maybe he wanted you to go public with something or disrupt something with them,” she suggested.

“If I knew what he had given me, I would have buried them so deep they’d orbit the inner core of the planet. I wouldn’t have wanted anything to do with them,” he stated.

“Yeah, well, we’ll see if that’s your intention,” Casey said, grabbing Xander by the arm. He responded by drawing the dagger and the tip pressed into Casey’s suit jacket directly over his heart. Sarah uneasily drew her gun again but didn’t raise it up to Xander’s chest, just let it hover there in case she needed it.

“I have your secrets in my head. Secrets you obviously need to prevent things like tonight from happening. Remember that. That means you’re listening to me right now and I’m going home,” Xander said coldly.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Casey replied.

“You need me. Me. When you get over your ego, come talk,” Xander stated. He pulled his arm away, sheathed the blade again and started walking into the night.

 

_*_

 

Xander didn’t return home that night. He had fully expected an attack of some kind and the last thing he wanted was to put his loved ones in danger. The reality of the situation crashed down upon him as he walked. It hit the moment he punched in Willow’s number and hovered over SEND. Instead, he just kept walking for the next four hours. He crossed over the hills of Bel Air and traveled all the way to the Santa Monica pier where he spent the rest of night in thought, sitting on the beach watching the waves roll in.

Just after sunrise, Sarah walked across the sand with her boots in hand. She came to a stop next to him but he didn’t look up or acknowledge her at all. Too many emotions passed through either one of them to break the silence. It was emotionally draining to have most of your secrets dragged to light on what was supposed to be a first date. When she looked at Xander now, she saw the supernatural fighter that leapt onto the back of a demon without a second thought because his friends needed him to. She saw the computer expert that managed to diffuse a bomb in a way she still couldn’t grasp. She saw the guy whose primary thought with a gun trained on him was to stop a bombing because it was the right thing to do. But mostly, she saw the guy, who despite all his reservations about her, made her laugh. She saw a good guy caught up in wars bigger than him but wouldn’t back down because other people still needed him.

“How long have you been watching me?” Xander quietly asked.

“All night,” Sarah replied, sitting down in the sand next to him.

“I could simply leave the dimension, you know. Be gone so far that you’d never find me,” he stated.

“I hadn’t thought of that, but I guess I’m not too surprised,” she replied.

“I don’t want to, but I will if you push. Got one on metaphorical speed dial. Might be a decent place to live. They got democracy a few years ago, you know,” he said firmly.

“Talk to me, Xander. Please,” she implored.

“I’ve got a computer in my brain with this nation’s secrets. I don’t know why Bryce’s dying wish was for me to get them, but he did. I can’t believe that the guy that betrayed me and hurt me this badly is dead. I can’t believe that I’m mourning him like the best friend he was before that and not the way I’ve thought about him ever since it happened. I can’t believe I’m sitting on a beach with his girlfriend after going on a date with her, fake or not,” he rambled off.

“Bryce wasn’t my boyfriend,” she said defensively. Xander rolled his eyes at that.

“Right, I’ll believe that the day that Casey breaks into song like a musical,” he replied.

“I’d believe that’s possible if you told me right now,” she admitted.

“How’s this gonna work, Sarah? I’m not leaving here to be in some glass box. Not now, not ever,” he said.

“For now, you’ll go back to your life, your job, your family, and you’ll work with us. You’re obviously capable of maintaining a dual identity, now we only ask that it’s a triple,” she explained.

“Four of my friends saw you and Casey in your superspy glory. My other friends actually know him from the Initiative debacle. Most of us have worked with the NSA before to stop demonic threats. Any cover will be compromised with them if I don’t feed them something,” he pointed out.

“Well, to them you’re simply a consulting computer technician working for the NSA and CIA. The important thing is that they never find out about the computer in your head,” she insisted.

“Yeah. I get that,” he replied. Xander leaned his chin on his knees and watched the waves roll in against the beach. Sarah took in his miserable expression and decided to ditch the CIA approach. He wasn’t ever going to be a regular asset and if his family was anything like the friends she saw last night, nothing about this was going to run-of-the-mill.

“Xander, we can get through this. Just follow my lead,” she said.

“I am done following the hot blonde female superhero archetype. I can’t do that again. You want my help? We’re in this together,” he replied.

“You’re referring to the late Ms. Summers? Your best friend from high school that you were a vigilante with?” she asked.

“We weren’t vigilantes. She was the Vampire Slayer and it was her job to keep the world safe from demons and vampires and the like. She died saving the world. Twice. I brought her back once, but couldn’t the second time. All we could do was bury her. If you think that I’m anything less than a partner here, I’m gone, understand?” he asked again.

“I… I understand,” she said quietly.

“Good, I’m glad that’s out of the way. I’m tired of acting all serious,” he replied with a smirk. Sarah laughed a real laugh. She rested her head on his shoulder.

“Xander, you kept making it seem like I was too good to be true for you. After last night, I want you to know that you’re a lot better than you give yourself credit for,” she stated.

“Yeah, well, give Bryce the credit for that. He turned me from a total loser to the guy you see here. Aside from his crippling betrayal, he did more good for me than anyone else. Too bad he’s dead and can’t hear me say that,” he said.

“Oh, I don’t know. I bet he got the message somehow. He’s probably looking down on us right now glad that we met,” she observed.

“How so?” he asked.

“Well, as you said. His best friend and his former girlfriend are watching the sunrise together,” she said. Xander chuckled to himself and rested his head on top of hers.

 

_*_

 

Xander walked through the front door of Willow’s townhouse and found his entire family staring down both barrels at him. Ellie broke the line first and engulfed him in a tight hug. She was already dressed in her scrubs for work. “What happened? We heard that you barely escaped a major car accident last night!” she exclaimed.

“Love you too, Ellie,” Xander replied, letting some of his freak out and nerves show. His voice shook ever so slightly but it was enough for his cousin to stop the inquisition.

“You’re home. You’re safe. Neither Devon nor I will have to operate on you today. I’m happy with that evasion,” Ellie said. Devon walked up and gave him a tight hug.

“Glad you’re safe, Xan. Losing you would be very not-awesome,” he said.

“Thanks, guys. I just need a little time to get my stomach out of my throat and hopefully not scream like a little girl again,” Xander quipped.

“We’ve got the morning shift today, so we have to get going,” Devon said. He patted him on the shoulder before leaving the townhouse. Ellie stole another hug and followed her boyfriend out.

The moment the door shut he got the third degree from Willow, Dawn, and Tara. He held his hands up to stall them. “I have something I’ve been hiding from you. I’ve been a technical consultant for the CIA for a while now,” he lied fluidly.

“That doesn’t explain why Major Jackass Casey attacked you last night,” Dawn retorted.

“You’ve been what?!” Willow screeched.

“The CIA approached me at Stanford but they never had a project they needed me for until about a month ago,” he said.

“W-what about the woman you s-saw last night?” Tara asked, her voice stuttered due to how upset she was at him.

“She’s my handler, apparently,” he replied.

“Then why haven’t we seen her before two days ago?” Willow challenged.

“Because I haven’t been in the field until now. It’s been electronic only. I didn’t even know my handler was female!” he argued back.

“Why was the NSA involved in such a violent way? Riley and Graham wouldn’t reveal anything to us and we tried,” Willow asked.

“Because we have more than sorta been stomping on their toes for a while. Look, I won’t get into what we were doing but you need to know that you’ll be seeing Casey around a lot more now. I think this is becoming a joint op. You might even see Riley and Graham, too, if I can be persuasive enough,” he said quickly.

“But, Xander,” Dawn started.

“No. I will not divulge anything about this for your guy’s safety,” he replied.

Willow gave him an indecipherable look and stormed out of the room. Tara looked at him sadly and followed her lover out.

“Don’t shut us out,” Dawn warned, leaving the room as well. Xander leaned against the wall and let out a long suffered breath. He felt awful right now, but it was necessary. They could never know the truth, no matter how much it hurt them. Hell, knowing the truth didn’t help him any. He just focused on not freaking out and maybe that’d get him through this.

“Don’t. Freak. Out.”

 

_*_

 

Willow paced back and forth furiously in her bedroom after convincing Tara to head into the bookstore. She kept a phone pressed to her ear and tried her damndest not to let her magic grow out of control.

“I’m sorry, Orion, but I can’t tell you why we need a new Intersect,” General Beckman stated firmly.

“I can! I hear that my best friend collapses after opening an e-mail from his former best friend the same night your Intersect explodes? Then a ‘ninja’, and I say that laughably, tries and fails to steal his computer. Now, he’s be attacked by the NSA and he’s claiming that he’s been a CIA tech specialist since Stanford? It’s pretty obvious what’s going on here,” Willow ranted angrily.

“I cannot confirm nor deny any of that to you,” Beckman replied.

“Of course you can’t, but I’m supposed to casually not notice all the danger he’s going to be in because I’m still maintaining this damn handle that you people created for me!” she barked.

“Will you cooperate with creating the Intersect 2.0? It would be in the best interests of Alexander Harris if you did, presuming what you say is correct.”

“When you put it that way, how could I refuse?”

Willow ended the call and threw her phone at the wall, though it exploded into a million parts before it could even reach it. Her magic was going haywire. The furious witch waved her hand and the phone rebuilt itself. She looked at the wall and a painting she made, causing a great number of files to flash through her brain. Files that detailed the expected complications of downloading the Intersect 1.0 to a human brain. Now she just had to figure out how to help Xander without him knowing it. She kept repeating one sentence to herself as a mantra to help cool down.

“Don’t. Freak. Out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, there might be more if I decide to rework other episodes. They will feature a lot more Riley and Graham and Team Angel as well guest appearances like Faith (working for the DEA). Plus, I really like what I did with their home/family life, so more of that. But no promises! It takes a lot for me to write these for some reason.


End file.
